


Tastes Sweeter With You

by MoonlitLilium



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Baking, Fluff, Kinda, LITERALLY, M/M, Pre-Slash, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Well one boy, boys be baking, there's so much talk of sweets y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26677204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitLilium/pseuds/MoonlitLilium
Summary: Banri's (secretly) baking something for a special someone's special day, too bad he gets found out.Written for Juza's Birth :)
Relationships: Hyoudou Juuza/Settsu Banri
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	Tastes Sweeter With You

Banri thought the hardest part of his plan would be getting out the door unnoticed, not trying to separate egg yolks from egg whites. The way Omi explained it made it look so easy. Banri tried the method using the shells, but after messing up one too many times he decided to just use his hands.  _ Hyodo probably won’t notice anyway _ . Banri pours some sugar and begins whisking it with the eggs, taking care to not make too much noise. It was close to one in the morning and Banri would rather be caught dead than someone finding him in the kitchen in his current state. He looks around the dimly lit kitchen at the various ingredients he bought earlier that day. A box of fresh strawberries, a carton of heavy cream and a roll of puff pastry. With how much Omi’s bakes, that’s all Banri needed to buy, everything else was tucked away neatly in the pantry waiting to be used. 

After mixing the eggs, he ventured across the kitchen to the fridge for some milk, taking notice of the multiple bottles of a drink Tenma had advertised. Some kind of fruity sparkling water. They were pretty good. Banri closed the fridge as gently as possible and brought the milk to the stove. Now he had to pull out a pot without making any noise. And of course, as he opened the cupboard door, he spotted the pot he needed, stacked between two others. Just  _ great.  _ Banri carefully lifted the first pot, just barely clearing the top of the cupboard. Getting the necessary pot was easy and done swiftly. The realization that Banri also needed to somehow wash his used dishes quietly entered his mind, prompting a deep sigh as he placed the first pot back in its original spot.  _ Why does baking use so many dishes anyway? _

He completed the next few steps quickly. While the milk was heating, he added cornstarch to the mixture of eggs and sugar. Then slowly poured the milk into the mixture and transferred it back into the pot to heat. Everything was going quite smoothly, he might even be able to get a decent amount of sleep at this pace. He finished up the mixture by adding some vanilla extract, then poured it into a bowl to be put in the fridge for a little while. Rolling out the puff pastry was easy. He sprinkled some sugar and made sure to roll it well into the dough. Definitely got it all over the counter, but it was kinda fun. Banri tossed the flattened, now sugary, dough into the oven and waited. He decided to scroll through his LIME feed. Seems like Kazunari went to a mixer recently, there were tons of pictures of him with all kinds of people. So many colors and styles, people from the college no doubt. Tenma was starring in another drama soon, so he was posting lots of teasers for it. It looks like it’ll be pretty good too, he’ll have to make sure to watch it. Tsumugi got into taking pictures of flowers after Omi taught him some tricks. He captions all of them with uplifting quotes and the names of each plant.

Banri was so engrossed in his scrolling that he failed to notice light foot falls coming from down the hall. The owner of said foot falls wasn’t expecting there to be a light on in the kitchen, nor was he expecting Banri to be leaning up against a counter covered in used bowls and various utensils.

“Settsu?” Banri visibly tensed. Out of all the people that had to wake up and find him here, why did it have to be Juza? Fate was always kind to Banri, why not this time? Banri, realizing he can’t really ignore the only other person in the room, turns to Juza slowly, face pulled into something reminiscing a grimace. Juza simply returns the look with a confused one of his own. “What are you doing?” Juza gestures to the items strewn across the counter. Banri quickly runs through a few possible excuses in his head. None of them sound very convincing. He lets out a rather exaggerated sigh.

“Baking, what’s it look like?” Banri’s cheeks burn. He hopes the dim light of the kitchen obscurs that fact. He begins to tap the counter with his fingers out of nervousness. Honestly, he’s a bit surprised at himself, he never gets nervous. Juza moves to grab a glass from a cabinet for some water, presumably the reason he came down in the first place. Banri’s eyes follow the movement. Juza catches him staring briefly and sends Banri a quick glare, though not one with malice.

“Why? Doesn’t really fit your ‘image’.” Before Banri can retort his phone begins to vibrate signaling the completion of a piece of his sweet escapade. With another sigh he pulls out the puff pastry carefully and places it on the counter, pretending to ignore the way Juza’s eyes began to sparkle. Damn, this guy and his sweet tooth. Banri plucks a knife from the knife block and begins to cut away the uneven edges. It’s a bit cumbersome, but he gets into a nice rhythm after the first edge. He swears either Juza’s burning gaze or Banri’s own flushed face will scorch the pastry.

“Damn, instead of just standing there staring, why don’t you make yourself useful and get me the bowl of custard out of the fridge.” Instead of resistance, what Banri was expecting, Juza wordlessly does as he’s told. Banri decided to take advantage of this new set of hands. Maybe he will get some sleep yet. With all the edges nice and clean, Banri begins cutting the pastry into three long rectangles, meanwhile tasking Juza to use the electric mixer to soften the custard. Together they continue the last few steps. Juza cuts the strawberries into neat slices, while Banri uses a piping bag to coat one layer of the pastry. Banri catches Juza trying to eat some of the strawberries to which he says he’ll replace Juza’s hair wax with custard if he doesn’t quit.

“At least wait until we finish this first, dude.” Juza follows with an almost comical frown, but moves to begin placing the freshly sliced strawberries in the layer of custard. Banri watches Juza’s large hands delicately placing each slice in a neat pattern. As if they were in sync, as soon as the last strawberry is placed Banri immediately slides in to pipe another layer of custard, then places the second piece of pastry. The two repeat this until the neat stack of pastry, custard and strawberries has been completed. The two boys gaze upon their completed masterpiece.

“What even is this?” Juza asks, honestly, which elicits a small, but also honest, laugh from Banri. He moves to the fridge to retrieve the last piece to add to their collective, mostly his, hard work. He asks Juza to measure out some sugar, while he pours some heavy cream into a bowl and grabs a whisk. Juza, again, does as he’s told and adds the sugar to the bowl. Banri begins to whisk until he gets the cream to the consistency he wants. Juza now takes his turn to watch Banri as stray strands of hair fall into his face. 

“It’s some French pastry I saw in a cafe I went to. It’s called ‘Mille-feullie’,” Banri butchers the pronunciation, but Juza can’t tell if it was on purpose or not. Not that Banri would admit to the latter. “I asked Omi if he knew how to make it, and unsurprisingly he did.” He places the whisk into the sink and uses a spoon to dollop the whipped cream on top of the sugary confection. “I figured it would be something you liked,” Banri says quietly, pushing the completed dessert toward Juza, who eyes light up at Banri’s words. 

“You made this for me?” Juza points to himself, “why?” Banri groans in a mix of annoyance and fondness.

“Just eat it, dumbass,” Banri mutters into his hands out of partial embarrassment, cheeks blazing once again. He peaks through his fingers when he hears the quiet ‘clink’ of a fork against a plate. Carefully he watches Juza as he takes a bite, gauging his reaction. Juza simply smiles gently and goes in for another bite. Banri is elated, but he tries not to show it. 

“It’s good,” Juza finally says after his third mouthful. Banri can’t help the smile that creeps onto his face. Plan successful. Not that he was worried about it failing. 

The two sit in the kitchen for sometime, Juza munching away as his dessert and Banri watching as he props his head in his palm. It would take a lot to get Banri to admit this, but he really does think Juza is beautiful. Juza finally takes note of Banri’s staring and wordlessly offers him a piece of the pastry they made together. Through some brazen act of confidence, Banri simply opens his mouth, hoping Juza gets the idea, the tips of his ears scorching. Thankfully, Juza understands immediately and feeds Banri a bite. It was sweet. A little too sweet for Banri, meaning it was perfect for Juza. As he’s chewing, Banri’s eyes fall to a large blob of whipped cream stuck to Juza’s cheek. As if all his inhibitions had been stalled, Banri reaches out and wipes the excess whipped cream off Juza’s cheek with his thumb. He then proceeds to lick the cream off his finger, after which his eyes widen immediately. Banri looks back up to Juza’s face which mirrors his expression. Both of them were placed into a state of confusion, embarrassment and just a hint of fondness.

“Let’s just pretend I didn’t do that,” Banri says slowly after what feels like an eternity. Juza nods carefully, quickly returning to his dessert in an effort to bury whatever flighty feeling has started to take place in his stomach. Banri feels his heart racing, about to fly out of his chest. He’s ready to run, but he isn’t really sure he wants to admit what he’s running from. He decided to begin washing some dishes in the efforts that some cold water on his skin will help him calm down.

After a few dishes Banri feels his heart begin to steady. Juza seems to have finished the pastry and has joined Banri in washing the remaining dishes. The two enjoy a comforting silence, the water whisking away any of the previous embarrassment. Once they finish, Banri stands staring out the kitchen window lost in his thoughts. Juza again takes time to observe, jumping, though not visibly, when Banri turns to look at him. A gentle smile graces his face, not one that Juza can say he’s seen often.

“Happy birthday, Hyodo,” Banri says quietly, to which Juza simply returns the smile.

“Thanks."

**Author's Note:**

> Look it's Lilium writing yet another fic surrounding sweets of some kind, whoops.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked this, it's the first thing I've been proud of in a few months :)
> 
> Happy birthday, Juza!!


End file.
